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This is a glossary of
some of the common floor terminology, to help you get a better understanding
of hardwood flooring.
Glossary
of Common Engineered Flooring Terms
Decor Layer:
The top finish layer of a laminate floating floor, adhered to an HDF core.
The decor surface is a photographic reproduction of a real-wood surface or
ceramic tile. The decor layer is covered with a top layer made of aluminum
oxide.
Engineered
Floating Floor:
A hard-surface floor made from wood or other natural products adhered to a
core such as High-Density Fibreboard (HDF) for structural stability and
durability. An engineered floating floor is designed for minimal expansion
and contraction with changes in interior temperature and humidity.
Expansion
Gap: A
gap (usually 3/8") that must be left around the edges of a room and any
installed obstructions to allow for natural expansion and contraction in a
floating floor that occurs with changes in room temperature and humidity.
Floating
Reducer:
A sloping, graduated moulding constructed of wood or polymer, used to join
floating floor planks or tiles to an adjoining floor surface of unequal
height.
Floating
Stair Nose:
A moulding constructed of wood or polymer, used along the leading edge of a
stair tread to finish off the installation of floating floor planks or tiles
over existing stair treads.
Glueless
Floating Floor:
Any engineered floor that fastens in place without nails or glue over an
existing floor or subfloor.
High-Density
Fibreboard (HDF):
A high-strength, engineered fibreboard designef for applications where
increased strength is needed. Made by compressing wood fibres with resins
under high pressure into an engineered substrate. Often used as an
engineeered floating floor core material. HDF pressure is greater than 50
lbs. per cu. ft. or 800 kg per cubic metre.
Laminate:
A hard-surface floorcovering made with a melamine-impregnated decor layer
with an aluminum oxide finish layer, and a HDF core on top of a melamine
backing layer. Laminate floors have a high-resolution photo of wood on the
top layer whereas engineered wood floors have a top layer of real wood.
Square Nose:
A moulding constructed of wood or polymer, used to trim floating floors
along walls around the perimeter of a room.
Subfloor:
A pre-existing structural supporting surface, such as plywood, waferboard or
concrete.
T-Moulding:
A T-shaped moulding constructed of wood or polymer used to join floating
floor tiles or planks of the same height together in dorrways between rooms.
Also used in single large rooms where the distance is extreme and a mid-way
joint is required for proper stability of floating floor tiles or planks.
Underlayment:
Foam or other material such as Cork (which is also used as a sound barrier)
and laid over an existing floor or subfloor. Floating floor planks or tiles
are installed on top of the underlayment material.
Uniclic
Joint:
The joint system patented by Unilin Decor of
Belgium.
A glueless tongue-and-groove design milled to tolerances of 1/1000" in which
the lower lip exerts constant pressure at a 45-degree angle on the tongue,
holding it in place by constant pretension.
Wear Layer:
The finish layer of an engineered floating floor such as Hardwood, Cork or
Linoleum, adhered to an HDF core. A wear layer may be natural or stained
with a finish colour. The wear layer is usually coated by a top layer of
urethane.
Wear
Resistance:
The ability of the surface protection (such as aluminum oxide or urethane)
that has been applied to either the decor layer or the wear layer, to
withstand normal traffic. |
